I was puttin' in my writing hours this morning and I'm trying to finish a draft of this story I conceptualized back in the spring and I should have got it all down when it was all fresh and funny then but anyhoo, I'm still trying to finish it, and it's turning out waaaaay longer than I'd like it to be and it's nothing like I imagined it could be but I'm still just typing and getting it all down and I'll work it all out later and shrink it big time and get its fun back and even as I'm typing along and the story is flowing over the keys and my mind is hardly even in it, and I'm saying to myself 'this is shiitake, this is shiitake,' to the beat of my keystrokes and yeah, it's a first draft, and it will be shiitake for a while but once I start working it and polishing it and narrowing it down and distilling its essences and building it up and tearing it down until there's nothing left to build or tear of it, hopefully...it won't...be? So....there's some encouragement.

Yeah, it sucks. For me, I'm back to writing this middle-grade novel I started about 7 years ago. For the last couple months, I've been pretty disciplined (for me), and trying to just get. it. done. I alternate between "Wow! Look at me go! Oh, that part's good" and "This is garbage that no one else will be interested in and I should be embarrassed." But I have to keep going. I just have to. The 1st draft is about 85% done.

i think the internal back-and-forth between "look at me go!" and "why do i bother?" is universal. a writer who isn't his or her own worst critic is probably writing some heavy blather. getting that first draft down is so much more important than getting it right (especially because you can usually find people to help you with that second part).

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq

I have been super lazy with writing in the past few weeks which is bad since I have a goal of eventually supporting myself entirely with freelance writing and it's not going to happen if I just get home from work every day and feel super tired and burnt out and then do nothing on the internet for hours.

_________________"No one with hair so soft and glossy could ever be bad at anything." - Tofulish

Do it footie! Don't be intimidated. It doesn't have to be great. It doesn't even have to be good. Just get it down for now. My present story is in a shambles right now but Imma salvage what I like when I'm all done and go from there. That's always what I do now and that cuts the intimidation of making a MASTERPIECE ON THE PAGE. I'm making a MESSTERPIECE. <3

Good one! I always thought working on a computer would lessen the effects of my fear/perfectionism. When it's so easy to undo something—or just file away an old version "just in case"—it should be easier to be bold. But it doesn't always work that way.